Merryville has pointed questions about road spikes

The Merryville Town Council called a special meeting Monday to reassess whether or not the police department should use spike strips to stop high-speed chases.

This comes after the council previously voted to allow the Merryville Police Department to order and use two sets of spiked road strips. The Merryville police had approached the council during the regular town meeting Feb. 13.

The request came in response to recent high-speed chases, said Melanie Smith, assistant police chief. There have been 15 high-speed chases in the last two years in the town of Merryville, which is why the police department would like authorization to use road spikes.

There was one such incident in January, and three others within the last 12 months. The biggest concern is the intersection coming out of Merryville onto U.S. Highway 190, she said.

At the Monday meeting, councilman Dale Reinhardt brought up police forces in Dallas and New Orleans, who have banned the use of spike strips, or “stop sticks,” as some were calling them.

“There is a reason they don’t use them,” said Reinhardt.

Police Chief Robert Thompson, meanwhile, compared spike strips against the “precision immobilization technique,” in which a pursuing car can force a fleeing car to abruptly turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control and stop. Thompson referred to the technique, also known as a tactical car intervention or tactical ramming, or fishtailing, by its initials, P.I.T.

“Spike strips are safer than having to P.I.T. a vehicle,” he said.

Thompson added that there is potential damage to police vehicles when the police use this technique. Also, the cost to repair damages or replace vehicles goes up.

One woman present at the meeting spoke up in favor of spike strips.

“If it’s going to save my husband or these officers’ lives, I think they should be able to use them,” she said.

Councilwoman Amanda Pointer emphasized the importance of being up to date on policy, training, and certificates for each officer who has completed training with road spikes successfully, if the town decides to purchase them.

Officers would strive, in a high-speed chase on U.S. Highway 190, to get the road spikes into place at one of the bridges which bookend that intersection, depending on the direction of the chase. Both of the bridges are in non-populated areas.

“In a high speed chase, if someone is flying by there and we can’t get them stopped, it could be a fatal situation. It’s a dangerous intersection, because you really can’t see that well around the curve,” said Smith.

“The goal is to stop high-speed chases before they enter into town,” said Thompson.

Mayor David Eaves motioned to vote on the approval of road spikes. With only one vote from Pointer, he declared it a deadlock. He motioned, and it was agreed upon, to table the decision until the March meeting.